Welcome caelum, it's awesome to see a new user dig in so quick and offer something good, I know I'm still adjusting to this day.

I feel that Hubski has a pretty solid buffer against any sort of "behavioral problems" like hivemind and circlejerking. The risk is higher when a new wave of users is large enough to immediately assimilate with themselves and the "people here first" would have no power to show what Hubski truly is-- or was, prior to the new wave. Imagine Columbus stumbling on a much more advanced civilization and trying to pull the same shit. With numbers big enough he'd succeed, because this "advanced" community is still relatively small in population.

By giving some time for a new wave to simply experience Hubski prior to "settling," they're encouraged (forced really) to acknowledge the status of the community before the wave. This wouldn't force them to mimic us because the closest thing we have to a hivemind is a handful of common interests, and I know first-hand how easy it is to introduce something pretty much new to the community-- it is not shunned or ignored, it's taken like a fresh perspective and learning experience, just like it should be. A new user would simply be more aware that this is a community to spark trade with, not try to invade.